Researchers Use Wi-Fi To See You Through Walls

Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) have developed WiFi technology that is capable of seeing people through walls and other obstacles. The new device, called RF Capture, is an expansion of previous methods CSAIL used to capture movements across a house—technology that allows firefighters determine if there are living people in a burning building and can let mothers see their baby's breathing.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

RF Capture takes the capabilities a step further, making it possible to outline a person's silhouette from beyond a wall, detect small movements, and distinguish between multiple people. The device transmits wireless signals that pass through physical objects and reflect off whatever is on the other side. And even though everything on the other side of a wall reflects the signals back to the device, RF Capture can analyze the data over time, and it uses the changes in the signals it receives to piece together whole images of people.

Most Popular

"The data you get back from these reflections are very minimal," says MIT professor Dina Katabi. "However, we can extract meaningful signals through a series of algorithms we developed that minimize the random noise produced by the reflections."

The research team has a myriad of applications in mind for the new technology. They figure it could be used to build a smart home that could call 911 in case of an emergency and also switch on and off your heat, lights, and other appliances based on where you are in the house. The team even presented the technology to President Obama as a method of detecting if an elderly person is injured in a fall. It could also have applications in motion capture, allowing filmmakers to dispense with those silly mo-cap suits.

"The possibilities are vast," says PhD student Fadel Adib, who is the lead author of a new paper detailing the research that was accepted to the SIGGRAH Asia Conference. "We're just at the beginning of thinking about the different ways to use these technologies."

However, Motherboard reports that the team expressed concerns about the technology being used for nefarious purposes or obtrusive surveillance. Privacy, it seems, might not even be possible behind closed doors anymore.